Derick Hall’s breakout game highlights Seahawks’ sack brigade

SEATTLE – Last year, outside linebacker Boye Mafe took a big second-year leap for the Seattle Seahawks.

Derick Hall might be following in his footsteps with a Year 2 breakout of his own.

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After recording the first sack of his young career last week, Hall exploded for a massive game in Seattle’s 24-3 win over the Miami Dolphins on Sunday. The 2023 second-round pick out of Auburn totaled two sacks, four quarterback hits, one tackle for loss and one forced fumble, highlighting a suffocating six-sack onslaught from the Seahawks’ defensive front.

“Derick played a tremendous game,” Seattle head coach Mike Macdonald said. “Really, I felt the whole front (did a great job) on how fast they were playing, playing incredibly physical, incredibly hard, playing smart and how we’re hitting the quarterback with no quarterback penalties and just hitting them legal.”

Five different Seahawks recorded a sack on Sunday, with Mafe, Dre’Mont Jones, Jarran Reed and linebacker Tyrel Dodson joining Hall in the pass-rush brigade. Seattle racked up 12 quarterback hits and ultimately knocked Miami backup QB Skylar Thompson out of the game with a rib injury early in the second half, forcing the Dolphins to go the rest of the way with third-stringer Tim Boyle.

The Seahawks had injury issues of their own, losing veteran defensive lineman Leonard Williams to a rib injury on the opening series and rookie first-round defensive tackle Byron Murphy II to a hamstring injury later in the first half. Seattle also was without standout edge rusher Uchenna Nwosu, who could be nearing a return after spraining his MCL in the preseason finale.

But despite being shorthanded up front, the Seahawks and their pass rush didn’t miss a beat. They limited Miami to just 205 total yards and surrendered their only points after a turnover that gave the Dolphins possession at the 6-yard line.

“The depth on this team is crazy,” Dodson said. “Like, I didn’t realize B-Murph and Leo were down until like I was like, ‘Oh shoot, I don’t see (numbers) 91 or 99.’ And so it just goes to show how much depth we have on this team and how much guys stay ready, no matter what.”

D-Hall trucked him. 🛻 pic.twitter.com/lE38hHb4Sz

— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) September 22, 2024

Hall’s emergence over the past two weeks has been a big part of that. As a rookie last year, Hall didn’t record a sack and finished with just five QB hits while logging 307 snaps in 17 games. Three weeks into this season, he already has three sacks, seven QB hits and a forced fumble.

On his first sack Sunday, Hall raced around the edge and beat both a tight end and a pulling guard on his way to taking down Thompson. His second sack came on the final play of the first half, when he chased down Thompson from behind and laid a massive hit on the unsuspecting quarterback. Hall also had a big hit on a short completion to running back De’Von Achane a few plays prior.

“This is the type of player that you envision,” Macdonald said. “He’s a physical guy that can set the edge and can drop when necessary. He’s playing at a high level right now, so we’re excited about Derick.”

Hall said the biggest adjustment from college to the NFL wasn’t the speed of the game, but rather the mental side.

“Coming from college, I thought I was a really, really smart guy, but you don’t have all the shifts and motions and different things (in college) that you have now,” Hall said. “(It was) just learning personnel and different guys and different things … and picking up on those little tendencies to go out and be successful. So I feel like that’s the biggest difference.”

“LOOK OUT FROM BEHIND.” – Kevin Harlan as Derick Hall delivers the boom pic.twitter.com/A4JZklEg7n

— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) September 22, 2024

Hall said he’s benefited from Mafe, who went from three sacks as a rookie in 2022 to a team-high nine sacks last season.

“Me and Boye are really close,” Hall said. “He really helped me throughout the rookie growing pains last year, (showing) me the way. … He’s definitely helped me out a lot.”

Hall also credited Macdonald’s cutting-edge scheme for putting him and his teammates in positions to excel. Dodson had similar praise for Macdonald when describing his sack, which came on a third-down blitz that sent him flying unblocked through a gap in the middle of Miami’s line.

“I’m gonna give a shoutout to coach Mike,” Dodson said. “He’s shown that formation since I got here. He said, ‘Hey, you see this formation, you go.’ I trusted him and I made a big play for my team.”

The Seahawks’ six sacks on Sunday were tied for their second-most since the start of the 2021 season. Seattle has 11 sacks through its first three games, which is tied for fifth-most in the NFL.

And all of that pass-rushing success has come without Nwosu, who had a team-high 9.5 sacks during his last full season in 2022. Yet while Nwosu has yet to play a snap this year, he’s still made an impact on the sidelines.

“Throughout the game today, he’s coaching me up: ‘What do you see? Well, I think you can do this. I think you can do that,'” Hall said. “… He’s our leader on the defense and across the defensive line. And he’s somebody also that I really leaned on coming into my second year and just trying to have success.

“I feel like when he gets back, (the pass rush) is just gonna take another step.”

More Seattle Seahawks gameday coverage

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